Retaining walls made of discrete blocks are frequently used in landscaping of hill sides, on residential, industrial, commercial and private properties. These walls have to be set at an angle, depending on the desired slope and, therefore, the top surface of the wall foundation, whether of concrete, gravel or the like, must be set at a precise vertical angle, in order to properly support the blocks at the desired slope. This is difficult to achieve in practice, especially for erecting high retaining walls.
For reasons of economy and ease of building the wall, it is desirable that at least most the blocks be of the same shape and size and that they be interlocking to resist localized outward pressure. In cold weather locations, the blocks must not be dislodged by the ice action.
Canadian Pat. No. 941,626, issued Feb. 12, 1974 to Giuseppe Risi, shows a block of the character described but which must be set at a precise angle in accordance with the desired slope of the wall. Also, there is no passage for the water drainage of the earth embankment behind the wall and, therefore, ice can dislodge the blocks.
Canadian Pat. No. 1,159,266, issued Dec. 27, 1983 to Steiner Silidur AG and entitled: &gt;&gt;BUILDING BLOCKS&lt;&lt;, describes a block for building retaining walls in the form of a channel open at the rear and having a front facing wall or panel, the channel adapted to be filled with earth which serves to stabilize the wall by planting, the earth also serving as a means for the draining of the embankment behind the wall. The block of this patent has the advantage that it will not become dislodged by ice. However, it does not permit interlocking of the blocks of successive courses with a variable selected horizontal recess, so as to permit to vary the slope of the retaining wall, using the same shape of blocks.